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Yahoo Widgets Make Net TV Fun

Revolutionary!

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 25, 2009 9:05 AM CDT

(Newser) – Internet TV has been tried many times with little success, but the Yahoo Widget Engine just might change all that, writes Katherine Boehret in the Wall Street Journal. The system, shipping with the $3,000 Samsung LED TV 7000 introduced this week, allows you to neatly distract yourself with all kinds of small internet applications—think Flickr, Twitter, Sudoku—while your TV channel hums on alongside them.

Want to stay updated on GM’s latest stock price or the weather forecast? You can set up a strip of shortcuts along the bottom of the screen. The dedicated, color-coded buttons on the remote make the system a snap to use, though for now you’ll have to muddle along with a “painfully slow virtual keyboard,” rather than a physical one. Boehret’s verdict? “I found it to be a lot of fun.”

The Yahoo Widget Engine allows users to share pictures without missing any of the game.
The Yahoo Widget Engine allows users to share pictures without missing any of the game.   (Yahoo)
Samsung's  1.19-inch thick, 55-inch LED 8000 edge lit television is displayed at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 8, 2009.
Samsung's 1.19-inch thick, 55-inch LED 8000 edge lit television is displayed at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 8, 2009.   (Getty Images)
Samsung's Internet TV is shown at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas,Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009.
Samsung's Internet TV is shown at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas,Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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